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Batter Up
"Batter Up" is the eighth episode of the first season of Back to the Future: The Animated Series, and the eighth episode overall. It first aired on November 9, 1991. Brief synopsis Doc has invented special glasses and a body suit that simulate the ideal skills for a baseball player. After Jules shows Marty an old baseball card depicting a distant relative, Pee Wee McFly, Marty and the boys make a trip to Boston, Massachusetts, September 1, 1897. On September 2 of that year, Pee Wee had retired after losing the game that would have won the 1897 National League Pennant Race for the Boston Beaneaters. Upon arriving in Boston on the day before Pee Wee's mistake, the guys discover that Pee Wee McFly pitching that game as well, with Boston leading the Baltimore Orioles, 6-4. Marty inadvertently interferes with history when he yells "Hey, cousin!" to the pitcher, who is distracted and knocked unconscious by a baseball. Using Doc's inventions, as well as a fake mustache, Marty "steps in" for Pee Wee and wins the game. Instead of being thankful, Pee Wee is terrified - he is being pressured to "throw" the games by Diamond Jim Tannen, a Boston gangster who has bet on Baltimore to win the pennant. Diamond Jim warns Pee Wee to lose the September 2 game, or face serious injury. When Marty casually says "Get out of town!" to his 1897 relative, Pee Wee takes the advice to heart and hops on a streetcar on its way out of Boston. Marty then makes plans to impersonate Pee Wee once more, and to win the September 2 game that his distant cousin had lost. With Doc's invention, Marty helps Boston take the lead. Realizing that Pitcher McFly isn't throwing the game, Diamond Jim rushes the field and attacks Marty until the police take him away. Marty is uninjured, but his cheating aids have been damaged and the malfunctioning glasses cause him to become disoriented. Thanks to Marty's bad pitching, Baltimore takes an 10-9 lead, and the McFly name is once more destined for ruin. Pee Wee, who had contemplated sailing back to his native Ireland, returns to the stadium, takes over from Marty, and wins the game and the 1897 National League pennant. After returning to the future (1991), Marty, Verne and Jules play a game of baseball. Marty, in hitting the ball for a home run, also destroys a shop window in Hill Valley, breaking the glass. Doc Brown, in the shop at the time, leaves before anyone can blame his family for the destruction. Behind the scenes *Jules tells Marty that Pee Wee was Marty's "fifth cousin, three times removed". One possibility is that Marty's great-grandfather (William McFly) would have been a fifth cousin to Pee Wee McFly, meaning that William and Pee Wee had the same great-great-great-great-grandfather. *The manager of the Beaneaters is Mr. Selee. Frank Selee really did manage the Beaneaters, from 1890 to 1901. *The episode's title is named after a quote from Griff Tannen in Back to the Future Part II. Live action segment *Doc Brown's guest is Los Angeles Dodgers centerfielder Brett Butler, who substitutes for Bill Nye in demonstrating the science experiment. As Doc supervises, Butler describes the physics behind a curveball, using a toy car and a small fan: "Now this motion, combined with the airflow frrom the fan, produces a sideways lift. Watch the trajectory of the car as it crosses the table." Appearances *Frank Selee *Diamond Jim Tannen |creatures= *Horse |locations= *Boston, Massachusetts |events= *1897 National League Pennant Race |organizations= *Baltimore Orioles *Boston Beaneaters |vehicles= *Bicycle |technology= *Baseball glasses |miscellanea= *1897 *Wooden baseball bat *Baseball }} Category:Animated Series episodes